Why Megamind is a Subversive Masterpiece

Funding for Shaperless is provided by Squarespace, from websites and online stores to marketing and analytics tools. Squarespace is the all-in-one platform to create a beautiful online presence and run your business. Learn more at the end of the video if there is a Dreamworks film that has received massive and belated acclaim over the years to the point where it can easily be considered a cult classic. It's the path to gold, also the prince of Egypt, I guess, and over the hedge, and okay, I guess a lot of Dreamworks movies have that status, but none. Lately they have been as frequent as Megamind.

I thought it was good as a kid, but not much else. It didn't stick with me like other Dreamworks movies that I really liked and that's how the general public felt it came out the same year. that Dreamworks concluded their most profitable franchise with a very underrated Shrek Forever and the same year that Dreamworks began their most respected franchise, How to Train Your Dragon, this film got a bit lost in the shuffle as a result of a release so close to these first two of the franchise. that's not entirely true there was no god either please no no no yes and x now I know what you're thinking oh boy, Katzenberg had his tiny spy cameras placed on anyone who even thought about releasing an animated film, but that's just a theory, Jeffrey.

It's very possible that Katzenberg is surveilling every person who has ever dabbled in animation just to steal their ideas for his dying animation company that is now in the hands of the lighting chief, how wonderful and yes, the precursor to the domination of enlightenment and dreams. is increasing in relevance throughout the animation industry, they can betray the releases and the fallout that followed one was a huge success in spawning a gigantic franchise that is solely responsible for the minion-ridden hell we are now working on and the other He didn't do that when he was a kid.

I liked Despicable Me a lot more than Megamind, it just seemed a lot funnier and even more emotional at times now as an adult every time I watch this movie I still like it, keep in mind this was before Lighting discovered it didn't It was like that. They have to try to make a profit from his movies, so in his first outing they tried with good emotional beats and funny jokes. As a result, this is pretty much the only good animated movie they've made, but of course now I think. It's a shame that this was the massive hit between these two films because, revisiting Megamind as an adult, I can now see the emotional intelligence ingenuity and even artistry at work in this underrated gem.

More and more people are really starting to connect with it and I recognize its strengths, so I thought I'd take a look at it and see what those strengths are. Here's why Megamind is a

subversive

masterpiece

. One of Megamind's strongest attributes is the surprisingly mature story it chooses to tell with its characters. This movie has a lot of introspection and reflection and connection and detour and inspection and direction. The bottom line is that the way events unfold in this movie is kind of a novel for an animated comedy made for children. This is another one of those kids movies that rarely talks down to its audience if at least Everything is like this Superman Megamind is a baby on a planet that's going to explode, he runs away, but it turns out this other kid had the exact same thing. idea.

Metro Man ends with a loving family that seems to have a lot of riches. and notoriety perfect for boosting the ego of a young, impressionable mind, but the mega mine goes to prison, he just lands in prison and they just keep him there. Can we keep it? That's great, honestly, I feel like from the beginning this movie contains shades of the entire Nature vs. Nurture Debate which I'm an expert on because I wrote a paper about it in the 10th grade. I got like a b, I think so, like I said, expert. I know everything there is to know about it.

The debate essentially boils down to the question. Is bad behavior inherited or acquired? In this case, we don't really know anything about the traits that Mega Man or Metro Mind inherited from their families or planets of origin, for all we know, Metro Man could have come from a planet of evil space tyrants like Superman and Megamind could be from. a world of benevolent blue people like that live-action remake of Pocahontas that James Cameron made. I personally believe that Megamind was not destined for evil nor did he come from some kind of evil planet. This line has always been especially clever for I'm a homeless man I didn't hear the last part but it sounded important destined for what is not only quite funny but allows us to fill the void ourselves we are

megamind

ly destined for greatness heroism destruction decay how well do you It's up to him to decide or I guess for society to decide, this is where the nurturing element comes into play and where the two parties start to come into conflict.

The

megamind

sets out to think that thieves are good, the police are bad, which, you know, is sometimes true, but let's not worry. about how the megamind has been raised to be evil and use her intellect to escape from prison, but her nature suggests otherwise. He is excited to go to school and fit in with his peers. He wants to impress them and be loved, but he is constantly rejected due to his dangerous failures. inventions and because people are racist towards blue boys, I guess it makes him doubt himself and go back to the things he's been taught, he gives in to the way he was raised even though his nature is good deep down, Later in the film, he slowly begins to reform.

The positive influence in his life is Roxanne, but once she discovers his true identity and rejects him, his immediate impulse is to return to the villainy that defined his life for so long. He convinced himself that being bad is simply in his nature, when that couldn't be the case. It's not further from the truth, everyone in Metro City thinks that no matter how everyone reinforces this idea through their hatred and rejection of him, it's no wonder that he internalizes that idea for so long, but it's not just negative reinforcement that which could warp the way a person perceives. his role in the world, let's talk about the good guy, in quotes, the way Metro Man develops throughout the story is also really interesting in a story about a sympathetic villain who always loses to a beloved hero in which normally I would finish the movie. making that hero the antagonist of the movie isn't necessarily evil as that would be weird, that was his mistake, but you know, big bad head, this movie isn't going in that direction, the subway man is kind though. with the citizens and at the same time he appears very selfish and self-absorbed, from his conceited appearance as a child it is clear that he loves attention and it goes to his head.

The ceremony celebrating him at the beginning of the film is one of the best character establishment scenes I've ever seen. In an animated film, he is modeled after Elvis Presley and clearly has some rock star style, but the way he uses his superpowers is a little questionable, since when he juggles babies it gives the impression that they are just accessories for him and he is too trusting. in his skills that he has no problem throwing babies into the air and throwing them at their parents at high speed, what a great way to show the arrogance and granted nature of this guy and I love how the mothers don't even care. because of how much everyone adores him, speaking of which, so he can do a couple of tricks, not like he can walk on water.

Hey everyone, this is a fantastic way to establish a swagger that I can't get over and then there's this iconic line that I love. you subway man and I love you random citizen see he doesn't really care about this guy to just say and I love you sir or and I love you these are just random citizens to him people who adore and praise him even though he doesn't really care about saving them and this becomes obvious when he fakes his own death and lets megamind and then titan take over the city without doing anything because he's tired of being a hero and wants to play music and the man in the music was born the music man what way could I keep my logo because he really only cares about notoriety huh well yes and no it becomes evident that Metro Man never aspired to be a superhero and you can understand it when he says that he never had a choice and that he always had one.

To be what the city wanted, it's understandable that he couldn't handle the social pressure of being a thing forever, but at the same time it means that he doesn't really deserve the title of superhero. Remember in Spider-verse when MJ said Peter didn't. I didn't ask for his powers, but he chose to be Spider-Man. Peter is naturally good at heart and used his powers to help others and make a difference, which is what made him a superhero. The Subway Man really only cared about the notoriety that came from stopping Megamind, whether it be gold stars in class or a museum dedicated to him, society molded him into an egoist, but never really gave him a choice in the matter. , so when he chooses to no longer be the subway man and fake his own death, is he being selfish?

Or is it a good thing that he is putting his own feelings before those of society as the only superhero the city has ever known? Does he owe Les more than, say, a firefighter who gets tired of putting out fires and just leaves one day or is there a sense of The Truth Is Present when he tells Megamind that there's a yen for every yang. If there is evil, good will rise against it. It has taken me a long time to find my calling. Now it's time for you to find yours. The movie doesn't really pick any sides.

Whether Metro Man's choice is justified or cowardly or not is up to the audience to decide and I really like that it doesn't have that moment where he comes back at the end, it's just Megaman pretending to be him to scare away Titan. Honestly, a great subversion of that annoying and tired trope that even Moana does honestly, that's probably the only problem I have with Moana if we're being honest instead of Maui coming back for no reason to help Moana fight in Dakar. Tamatoa should have risen from the depths and entered a kaiju battle that would have gone down as the third biggest act in movie history, but I guess they did what they tried, but if Subway Man using his powers to gain notoriety casts him in a negative light, what about someone who uses those powers to Hal Stewart is an incel? and also one of the most unique and

subversive

versions of a super villain I've ever seen.

Remember my frollo video when I said Disney would never have the guts to turn a seemingly likable character into a villain over the course of a story unless they were secretly evil the whole time that was their thing, well what do you know? Dreamworks already beat him to it. Hal doesn't start out as an evil monster though he's not exactly a good guy either unless we're talking about this guy if he mentions a nicer guy he's a good guy he's a total nasty guy he actually feels entitled to roxanne because he's so nice to her, he's not like those other guys you see, he's a nerd so there's no way he can do it. he mistreats her he understands women he understands it honestly this character was a little ahead of his time as we now live in the era of good guys who feel this strange sense of entitlement towards women because the media and society have made them believe who deserve the girl. no matter what, this kind of disgusting behavior is only now starting to be called out, but Mega Man got it even back in 2010, if an entitled pervert suddenly gained godlike powers in real life, he'd be the villain he gets mad at when Roxanne goes out with another.

Boy, he has a poster of her hanging with a part engraved that says good night, Hal. He invites her to a party where the two of them will be with a wedding photographer there, I don't know how, I really don't know. I feel like being around a group of people no, no, that's the best part, we'll be like you and me, but in Hal's mind the only thing stopping him from being with Roxanne is his lack of superpowers. He's already perfect for her, but she likes him. subway man because he has muscles and perfect hair and stuff, so now that Hal is super, all he has to do is take her on a flight against her, he will put her in immortal danger and then he will save her.

They're in love, except they're not, because That's not realistic and silly Roxanne rightly tells him they'll never be together and he throws a bit of a tantrum and leaves. He can't accept the idea that the problem wasn't his lack of powers, but his scum and entitlement, much like Metroman. Stuck in hero work to gain adoration, Hal just wanted to be a hero to get the girl, when that doesn't happen he decides to steal things because it's in his nature to be horrible now that he finally has a way out. doing horrible things without worrying about the possible consequences and I also didn't realize this until the end of this whole script writing process, but now I see some similarities with a child's syndromeDumb redhead who gets rejected, which makes him angry, but then he gets super abilities of some kind and now seeks revenge.

It's true that there is no syndrome in terms of threat or good presentation, but it's probably funnier than the syndrome, so you're living a fantasy, there's no Easter bunny, there isn't. The tooth fairy and there is no queen of England plus syndrome was a comment on toxic titled fans you are not affiliated with me hal is a comment on toxic titled nerds who think they are owed the affection of women yes, call roxanne on never take the It's Time to Meet Him before he became a Titan, but then you remember that he's literally never stopped being creepy in any of the scenes these two characters shared.

I really hope no one saw this movie and said, yeah, well, Hal's right, you know? No hey wait a minute how could he afford a wedding photographer on a bouncy castle on a videographer's salary hey wait he lives in this little apartment where the bouncy castle was supposed to be set up unless he was lying about. Do you really think anyone would do that? That's all. I hate this guy even more now he's even more evil than syndrome and the most evil bad guy in the world how could he betray the sanctity of bouncy castles like that?

I don't even know what I'm doing anymore. Can we move on to the next part? Ah, trademark Shay. furless talks about humor and music in the same segment of the video. It's a little difficult to talk about what makes comedy work or not because of its subjective nature and I think the biggest flaw of my Shrek 2 video is my inability to fully explain it. Which made the comedy work so well, so let me try to thoroughly detail why Megamind is a cinematic riot. This movie just has a sense of energy that many other animated movies lack.

It's not too energetic like that crazy waving inflatable arm. Tube Man from Norm of the North, but he's not flat and lifeless like all of Shrek III. There's always a great sense of comedic timing that's an ode to the acting, animation, editing and writing all rolled into one great package. Will Ferrell is great as Megamind, honestly this might be his best role. He delivers his comedic lines so expressively and charmingly, while also bringing a good amount of dramatic pathos to the role. Tina Fey, Brad Pitt and David Cross also add a lot to his characters, and while Jonah Hill is played quite well and delivers some very good lines.

Admittedly, there are some lines that could have used an extra take or two and didn't feel very convincing. That's not how the game is played, wait, that was the best. Take what you got from it, for the most part, this movie doesn't feel like a celebrity is going through the motions, it feels like a really great cast complementing the roles and script, it's not like those random animated movies that just they involve Seth Rogen. there because haha ​​funny man animal voice haha ​​funny joke even kung fu panda is guilty of this can hollywood stop hiring seth rogen for voiceover work i don't even hate him i'm just tired of hearing his voice oy vey let's go back to Talking about a movie funny, now the animation lends itself very well to comedy, just based on the way the characters move, there's a funny segment where Megamind pretends to fight another guy he's disguising himself as, so he changes from one side to side while congratulating himself along the way.

It's so good, there's also the way his giant robot moves, the poses and body language that the subway man and the titan do while flying, all the amazing facial expressions that these characters make, it's very solid, but obviously The star of the show here is the writing that feels like this movie. has more laughs per minute than the average Dreamworks movie, it just packed so many in a short period of time that even if one isn't a hit, there are at least five more to come that are guys trading between megamind and meter man about guarantees. that really made me laugh more than anything else in Shrek 2.

That's high praise, these characters just have such strong, quirky personalities that fit together so well and lead to a lot of great exchanges throughout the movie. The other thing that fits. well, the music there are so many iconic rock songs that complement the bad theme so well, such as Back in Black Crazy Train, welcome to the jungle, bad and of course a lot of weight ahead, the Gram Pacer fitness test is an aerobic of several stages, what that test of the city, well, yes. progressively sitting on the remote as it continues oh sorry I thought it was a brownie anyway yes these songs are well implemented and make these scenes exciting nothing surprising in this department but it's important to recognize that no It has the same panache implementation as Shrek. the third one that's important, oh yeah, and hearing Mr Blue Sky play over a montage that includes a Donkey Kong reference is something I never knew I needed, so yeah, great characters, humor, music, animation, all that stuff good, but how about I serve you a delicious plate of drama?

Better eat it hot because it doesn't taste good when we heat it in the evil microwave let me tell you who I would be without you I love you metro man and I love you citizen anyone it's a little strange that so much time has gone by without discussing it the real story, but to be honest, I just wanted to save the best part of the movie for last, although don't expect this to have the same impact as the end of the Shrek 2 review, I'm just going to say it from the beginning. which I don't even plan on trying to get over that I don't have the same personal connection to Mega Mine's growth in this movie that I had with Shreks, but I think the character growth this movie shows is almost as strong, if not equal, to Shrek 2 Towards the beginning I mentioned that Megamind is really only a villain because society considers himself to be.

No one has ever given him the chance to be anything other than evil. He's the only thing he's good at because he's the only thing he's allowed. When he takes over the city, it's no surprise that he quickly becomes bored with it, the superhero he fought, the only person who gave any kind of meaning to his life, no longer has any purpose, that's the thing about him. success in life, it doesn't really make sense. in the sense that it doesn't bring you true happiness, true happiness comes from connecting with others, forming bonds, sharing experiences and making each other happy, this is not strictly tied to a romantic connection, it is simply in our nature to seek the company of any type, that's all.

Megamind wanted to grow up to be loved and accepted by his peers, but like Shrek, he is an outcast simply due to society's preconceived notions about him and his nature, meaning he has no choice but to be the monster he is. people hope that it is now that their evil. his ambitions have been achieved of course he's not happy he never aspired to be evil until society convinced him that's what he wanted it's almost poetic that he finally finds genuine purpose with roxanne richie yes he kidnapped her several times, but that is the role of the villain kidnapping someone close. to the subway man to get him out clearly it's not personal against her as evidenced by this exchange what if tomorrow we could go kidnap roxanne richie that always seems to lift your spirits good idea minion but without him what's the point when he accidentally inspires her while disguised as the librarian bernard and she returns that kindness by being nice to him for the first time, you get the feeling that he deserves a second chance at happiness, they both deserve a chance at happiness after everything they've been through and now that there's someone. in Megamind's life, treating him with genuine affection, apart from Minion, who is great, but is really just an enabler of his evil plans, Megamind finally gets the chance to grow as a person and improve, he cleans the streets and returns everything. who stole and makes the city safer.

He puts everything in place to make Roxanne happy. This is what a loving partner can do. Help you become the best version of yourself you can be. Yes, technically he's lying to her, but it's not to hurt her and there's no way she's going to give the villain who murdered a superhero and took over the city a chance and you know she's totally justified in thinking that, so when he finally finds out she's megamind and they have an emotional confrontation in which she berates him for all the horrible things he's done, it's brutally heartbreaking. I know she's right, but you also know that he has become a better person because of her.

This isn't a forced breakup that separates two characters before they reunite in the climax, which admittedly this movie does as well, but it's handled pretty well, so it's okay. It's an unflinchingly honest organic moment that speaks to the emotional complexity and maturity of this Blue Will Ferrell animated film that was a real quote Yes, this is DreamWorks' greatest strength as a company, they understand the complexities of wanting to find meaning in something that You never thought you were made for, even if you never thought it was possible to be a good person, someone worthy of affection, praise and love, you always have the ability to be that person, everyone has the ability to change and anyone who has been wronged by someone in the past so many times it is completely justified not to give that person another chance megamind understands this and instead of kidnapping roxanne or forcing her to be with him, he lets her go because he has come to respect her as a person and admits that her hatred for him and everything she has done is justified, this is a lot of character growth that is deliberately contrasted with hal who can't move on because he sees roxanne as an object that owes him affection when hal goes crazy like megamind and roxanne has no more With no choice but to team up again and find a man who turns out to have no interest in helping them or the city, he tries to encourage Megamind by telling him that good will always rise to equal evil and that it may finally be his time to prove himself good. heart and after all.

The rejection that Megamind has received after everyone told her that she will never be more than a villain, she has internalized and can't get over it, so she goes to jail. He used to find this plot point a little forced, but honestly, at this point. In the story, it makes a lot of sense for him to doubt himself to this point after reconciling with Minion and realizing that at least he can right the wrongs he caused Roxanna in the city. He returns, but disguised as a subway man. This is crucial not only because he intimidates Hal but because he wants to give the town something to believe in the hero that they deserve when Minion says that he is the real hero, I felt that man but the best part is when he descends after chasing away to Titan with the cheers of an adoring public that echoes only in the streets. for Roxanne to hold out her hands a little unsure of what to do, Megamind takes her hands but she goes for the watch and changes it back to normal, much to her and the crowd's surprise, she didn't think these people would understand or accept the idea. that he came to save them, she wanted to continue with the charade since she thought that the best thing for everyone was to believe that she was someone else, like the whole time she was with Roxanne, but she makes the decision to let everyone know that yes, Megamind has changed for the better and although the crowd hasn't figured out how to feel about it, the smile Roxanne gives him is all the acceptance he needs, pretty astute sister, if I only know one person who calls this city an atrocity, honestly, this is one very clever way. for titan to find out that he wasn't metro man, so after a brief fight with some solid laughs and even emotional make-ups, megamind finally saves the day, not by pretending to be someone he isn't, but through his ingenuity and surprising inventions, the crowd applauds him and Like much of this movie, it's a perfect mix of heartfelt and funny.

Come back, savages, sorry, sorry, he's just not used to positive comments and after a great final sequence in which Megamind has his own ceremony, the movie ends. What an incredibly fun thrill! well written

masterpiece

, I'm very glad it received the critical and commercial respect it deserved megamind is the most baffling flop I've ever seen, I get that my worthless self came out first and everyone liked it or whatever, but megamind is just a much richer, more emotionally mature, and much funnier than my despicable self, which I also really like, of course, however, it made less money, had less positive critical reception, and had a much smaller impact on the culture popular, but it endures in a lot of Internet circles since people We're really starting to realize in retrospect that it's one of the best Dreamworks films to date.

I don't think it's derivative at all and I appreciate the subversions and twists that areThey apply to the superhero formula, but people at the time didn't see it that way. including Mr. Jeffrey Katzenberg In April 2011, in a statement that really grinds my gears, Katzenberg said that Dreamworks would no longer produce parodies of film genres such as Shark Tale, Monsters vs Aliens and Megamind, stating that they all shared an approach, a tone and an idea of ​​parody. and it didn't travel well internationally oh wow, look, it's one thing to realize that genre parodies as a whole don't generate income and focus your efforts on other projects, but this statement that brings together an intelligent, emotional, witty and subversive of a genre with two pieces of trash who couldn't be bothered to tell good stories represent a fundamental misunderstanding of what the megamind was trying to achieve.

The problem with Sharktail wasn't that it was trying to parody gangster movies. The problem was literally everything else. It's fundamentally a broken movie, the gangster stuff is kind of secondary to the huge flaws in terms of characters and story, and Monsters vs. Aliens didn't do anything new or different with its genre, it's just a kids' monster movie that also sucks, no. tell me maybe there was also a problem with the general look of megamind's characters and world that was so similar to this movie. I know as a kid I was confused that the villain looked visually similar to megamind to the point where I mixed these two movies up all the time.

That's the problem with Megamind, the way people perceived it on the surface, it was pretty similar to a lot of other animated films at the time and didn't seem to offer anything new. A lot of people didn't give it a chance or watch it, but they ignored the really strong elements because they thought it was just a copy of other hits, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Megamind is a parody of the genre, yes, but it does amazing, beautiful, surprising things with the genre that decides to lovingly spoof it. It really has no reason to be as cool as it is, but as long as it's that cool, I'm glad more people give it the attention it deserves.

It's engaging, smart, funny, and powerful, sort of like another 2010 Dreamworks film that wasn't widely appreciated upon its release. I said unloved at your launch, yes that will be next time honey but first I have a quick question: what is the most important aspect of creating an online presence, presenting the answer, if you want to develop your brand online , look no further than Squarespace, an intuitive online website. building tool that will make your business stand out Squarespace allowed me to explore all the different styles and themes that create a visually stunning website. I created my own movie blog, which is definitely still a work in progress, but I'm excited to continue using it. the different tools that create an engaging visual experience Squarespace can authenticate all of your social media profiles so you can automatically post your content to Twitter, Facebook, or Tumblr.

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